Project Description
New headquarters campus with 47,600sf of new administration, shop, and maintenance yard and master planning for future expansion on the 22-acre site.

Design Team
Formative Architecture + Shelley M. Hughes Architects

Certifications + Awards

  • AGC New Mexico, Best Buildings, Student Choice Award Winner 2024

CDEC New Headquarters Campus

Continental Divide Electric Cooperative (CDEC) | Grants, NM


The new Headquarters Campus unifies operations spread across multiple sites, establishing a single location for energy and telecommunications provider Continental Divide Electric Cooperative.

Nestled within the gorgeous, volcanic landscape of El Malpais with views to Tsoodził (Mount Taylor) to the northeast, the 22-acre campus brings together an administration building, shop, and maintenance yard with site planning for future broadband buildings.


The stepped massing of the administration building echoes the silhouette of the surrounding mesa.

The dark charcoal block and beetle kill pine featured throughout recall the colors and textures of the volcanic landscape.

The design also incorporates CDEC’s branding, with the light design playfully reminiscent of the lightning bolt emblem in CDEC’s logo.


The campus organizes buildings along a pedestrian spine. A plaza brings people from different departments and the public together for outdoor meetings and events.

Site planning supports circulation for fleets, employees, and visiting CoOp members from the public.


Natural daylighting is an integral aspect of the design to support comfort, efficiency, and sustainability.

High clerestory windows bring light into offices, meeting spaces, and throughout the building’s interior.


The new campus, built upon a volcanic rocky terrain and bringing together CDEC’s many departments, demonstrates how design can unify purpose, brand, and place.

Services Provided

  • Architecture

  • Interior Architecture

  • Programming

  • Comprehensive Planning

  • Signage/Wayfinding Design

Photography
Matt Oberer

Design Team

  • Formative Architecture

  • Shelley M. Hughes Architects

  • RME ABQ Structural Engineers

  • Arsed Engineering Group

  • A C Engineering Enterprises

  • Harcrow Surveying

Procurement + Delivery
Design-Build

Contractor
Franken Construction

Year
2023

Value
$15M


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